Shipping???

NanaReefer · Oct 30, 2012

Please, can someone explain to me why shipping is so costly?
I find a coral I love but will never be able to buy because the shipping is just as much if not more then the coral itself. What's worse is more times then not I'm made to feel terrible because I can only afford 1-2 corals at a time.

I shipped a coral to a friend once. Not very far and he got it the next day. Via FedEx and it only cost me $10.

If I were to buy that same coral it would cost me $55 for shipping. what the heck?

KoleTang · Oct 30, 2012

Because you are overnighting it. Which involves workers scrambling packages onto an airplane and speeding to whichever state it is going to. All through the wee hours of the night.

So this summed up is: Night workers, airplanes, jet fuel, and your package getting to go before all the others.

Bowhunter · Oct 30, 2012

Thing is when you own a business and ship a lot you setup accounts with ups or FedEx and get STEEP discounts. Depending on how much you ship a month, overnight shipping is more than 50% off with a good account. Ground shipping has the least discount.

I think some keep a set shipping fee to cover labor and supplies to ship (handling fee) and forecast worst case scenario so they don't eat it. In the end they make more money. Others do free shipping if you buy X amount. In reality they will cover the $15-$20 shipping cost if if convinces you to spend $300 with them or whatever amount.

chort55 · Oct 30, 2012

NanaReefer said:
Please, can someone explain to me why shipping is so costly?
I find a coral I love but will never be able to buy because the shipping is just as much if not more then the coral itself. What's worse is more times then not I'm made to feel terrible because I can only afford 1-2 corals at a time.

I shipped a coral to a friend once. Not very far and he got it the next day. Via FedEx and it only cost me $10.

If I were to buy that same coral it would cost me $55 for shipping. what the heck?

Key being you shipped it not very far, overnight is different then ground inside the same state... I certainly wouldn't want to ship a $50 acro from cali to MI ground. FWIW, You can go to fedex's site and quote overnight shipping from another area (google a random zip code even) and you will see a large increase over that $10 ground you paid. Even instate I wouldn't want to ship you certain corals ground as a precaution, especially if I was commercial and had a rep on the line because while maybe you wouldn't some people would bash the seller for saving them a buck and the coral not making it because they shipped ground instead

But yeah, really your best bet unfortunately is to save the $ up and buy in bulk to get free shipping.

Pkunk35 · Oct 30, 2012

You probably shipped that coral via normal freight but since it was so close it got there the next day anyway.

Ship someone something across the country overnight and you will see that $55 is not expensive...it is actually lower than normal (what normal end user would pay).

Overnight shipping is a pain I must admit but pricing for online shipping has been pretty steady throughout the years meaning it wasn't much higher if at all 5-10 years ago.

Personally I think overnight shipping has been a boon for the hobby and made coral availability in certain areas actually feasible...before we would have to wait for a coral to hit our LFS (if you even have a LFS near you) and then on top of that hopefully no one picked out that particular piece before you got there. PLUS the LFS will account for the shipping that they paid so you in turn do pay something for shipping still (not to mention transportation cost to get to the store).

Just make sure to always account for shipping in the pricing of your coral and buy multiple pieces to offset shipping. I really don't think hardly any coral vendors out there make any money on shipping and when they offer free shipping when you purchase X amount of coral you can literally see it as them giving you coral because they still have to pay an arm and leg for shipping.

Gotta say. I'm a big big fan of online vendors, i've had great experiences with the sponsors here!

chort55 · Oct 30, 2012

Bowhunter said:
Thing is when you own a business and ship a lot you setup accounts with ups or FedEx and get STEEP discounts. Depending on how much you ship a month, overnight shipping is more than 50% off with a good account. Ground shipping has the least discount.

I think some keep a set shipping fee to cover labor and supplies to ship (handling fee) and forecast worst case scenario so they don't eat it. In the end they make more money. Others do free shipping if you buy X amount. In reality they will cover the $15-$20 shipping cost if if convinces you to spend $300 with them or whatever amount.

You have to earn your way to those STEEP discounts, with ALOT of business to them. I don't think there are many coral vendors getting $15 overnight shipping from say cali to NY lol. A good coral vendor probably does shipments in the thousands during a good year MAYBE tens of thousands.... FedEx UPS don't care about that when they have companies shipping in the millions

Also it is easier from a billing standpoint to keep a set shipping price, and it allows the buyer to know the exact charge for shipping and there is no change if the seller packs a little added water for that long overnight trip or you bought 10 $20-25 frags and a bigger box is needed but you didn't quite qualify for free shipping

Pkunk35 · Oct 30, 2012

Bowhunter said:
Thing is when you own a business and ship a lot you setup accounts with ups or FedEx and get STEEP discounts. Depending on how much you ship a month, overnight shipping is more than 50% off with a good account. Ground shipping has the least discount.

I think some keep a set shipping fee to cover labor and supplies to ship (handling fee) and forecast worst case scenario so they don't eat it. In the end they make more money. Others do free shipping if you buy X amount. In reality they will cover the $15-$20 shipping cost if if convinces you to spend $300 with them or whatever amount.

Even at 50% discount, $50 for overnight shipping water is really not far off. It costs me $80+ via UPS to overnight a 1-2 lb package from California to Illinois.

Bowhunter · Oct 30, 2012

My company ships a decent amount about $3000 worth and those are the kind of discounts we get. I'm also in KC so I'm middle o the country. Sending anywhere worse case is 3 days ground. Overnight anywhere isn't much when you throw in that 50%+ discount if it weighs less than 10lbs.

Just saying I could overnight ship you corals and my cost would be no more than $20. Most people don't think about the packaging and time involved with that which is typically added into the cost of shipping not the item.

I hope to sell some corals in the coming weeks and ill either eat my words or be offering $20 shipping ;-)

Bowhunter · Oct 30, 2012

My company ships a decent amount about $3000 worth a month and those are the kind of discounts we get. I'm also in KC so I'm middle o the country. Sending anywhere worse case is 3 days ground. Overnight anywhere isn't much when you throw in that 50%+ discount if it weighs less than 10lbs.

Just saying I could overnight ship you corals and my cost would be no more than $20 anywhere in the lower 48. Most people don't think about the packaging and time involved with that which is typically added into the cost of shipping, not the item.

I hope to sell some corals in the coming weeks and ill either eat my words or be offering $20 shipping, not $55 ;-)

Bowhunter · Oct 30, 2012

^^ not sure what happened there. Think tapatalk goofed

NanaReefer · Oct 30, 2012

I just wish it wouldn't cost $55-$65 to ship me a $50 coral

I'm not a cheap person by no means. I do understand a little about the business aspect. Yet I've got room in my tank for 1-2 corals, nothing I want/like can be found here. So I go without because I just can't justify paying more for shipping then what is being asked for the corals. It's just frustrating is all-lol.
Please in no way am I bashing ANY sellers shipping costs.

KoleTang · Oct 30, 2012

Save up and get free shipping.

BlueWaterTropicals · Oct 30, 2012

You're also forgetting some other costs... The Styro shippers aren't cheap either unless you buy a semitruck load. Then you got heat/Cold packs to add in there too... You have to ship a lot to get any discount thats worth having. So at this point you're looking at a $8-20 cost on top of the cost shipping depending how much you're shipping...

shecter · Oct 30, 2012

I recently overnighted a package to florida. 87 bucks for shipping. Not to mention the couple bucks for the heat pack and the gas to go ship everything. The charges do get crazy but if the coral is the one or two you really want its worth it.